28 April 2013

The Khan Shatyr - Astana's Giant Tent

The very cold winter temperatures mean that large indoor
spaces are a vitally important part of life here in Astana and as such we have
a number of very large shopping centers.

We have 5 large malls within walking distance of our
house. Each of them come complete with a
supermarket, a food court, café’s, a cinema and a range of clothes, shoe and
toy shops. Most also have indoor play
areas for children and one even has a climbing wall.

Khan Shatyr

The Khan Shatyr is the most recently built of all the malls
and possibly the most iconic. It is at
the western end of Nurzhol boulevard. Designed
by Norman Foster, it opened in 2010. A
large tent, designed as a modern interpretation of a yurt, it stands at 150m
high and covers a ground area of 100,000 sq meters. Various websites boast that it is the largest tensile structure in the world. I am not quite sure as I thought that honour went to the London Milennium Dome. In any even the Khan Shatyr is huge, impressive and much more beautiful than the London counterpart.

Khan Shatyr - future model

The Khan Shatyr is the center of what will be a large
complex including office space and residential buildings. The first thing you see when you enter the
building is a large model showing the mall and its surrounding buildings. Only two of the towers have been completed so
far and they are connected to the shopping center by a covered walkway. We did look into whether or not to rent a
flat in one of these buildings, thinking that it would be very convenient to be
able to walk, undercover, to the supermarket in the winter. The flats looked spectacular but were rather
small and expensive for the space. I am not too keen on the supermarket in the Khan Shatyr in any event.

Long drop fairground ride

As you walk into the immense open space at the center of the
mall you come face to face with a large long drop style fairground ride This open space plays regular host to events such as fashion shows or 'Miss Khan Shatyr' competitions. There
are more fairground rides, games machines and soft play areas on the upper
levels including a log flume and a monorail.
It is somewhat reminiscent of Brighton Palace pier. Children love to ride around the perimeter of
the mall, looking at the people enjoying their weekend and waving to all and
sundry.

Busy soft play under the tent.

Monorail in the Khan Shatyr

Aside from wandering around and enjoying the cutting edge
architecture the real reason to come to the Khan Shatyr is the sky beach. The top floor is dedicated to a spa and
swimming pool complex. The swimming
pools are surrounded by sand flown in from the Maldives. Here you can enjoy flume rides, swim, play
volleyball or just relax with a smoothie from the bar even when the
temperatures have dropped to -50 degrees outside but sadly it is an expensive place to visit. Discount websites such as chocolife.me sometimes have vouchers on sale for cut price entry but without these you are looking at a cost of about 8,000 tenge (nearly £40) per person so we usually only ever go when friends or family come to Astana. There is a gym attached to the spa with a
running track around the perimeter of the tent.
It certainly looks spectacular but I have never seen anyone brave enough
to run around under the beady eye of people enjoying their burgers or
fairground rides.

Swim on the beach - even when it is freezing

Enjoy the beach in the middle of the steppe.

Running track - for the very brave and figure unconscious

The walls of each floor are covered in artificial plants
giving a welcome splash of green in the middle of winter. This is the place to come if you want to pick
up imported clothes from stores such as Gap, Zara, Massimo Dutti etc but I tend
to find that the other malls have better supermarkets and food courts. The parking is also somewhat chaotic and it
is expensive (500 tenge/£2) to park underground. I actually enjoy seeing the Khan Shatyr from the outside far more than spending time inside. It is a spectacular addition to Astana's beautiful and rather unconventional skyline and looks it's best at sundown when the sunset bathes it in orange.

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About Me

I am a no longer 30 something global soul, a perpetual expat. I was born in the Netherlands to a Dutch/Irish Family. Since then I have lived in Norway, Nigeria, Turkey and Venezuela. I went to school and university in the UK. We decided to have an adventure and took our children and the dog(s) to live abroad, first to Kazakhstan and then to various locations in Malaysia. Our current home is in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
This blog is about how we muddle through daily life as expats and how things have changed from the adventures of my childhood.